Risk Taker
by Scarabbug
Summary: Random Virus doesn't take risks anymore. One shot. RPfic.


This fic is connected to the Ace Lightning Roleplay, but can be understood without reading that first. I know. Random's past story has been done a thousand times (even in this relatively small fandom), but I had an inkling and this was born, whether it's original or not. It has no real beginning, and no real end.

**Disclaimers: The theory of Random's "accident" involving the man over a molten pit was originally thought up and ficced by **Hyperpsychomaniac**. I have reinterpreted it here. I fact, the whole fiery-pit scene below is pretty much the same story as H there's fic. **

**This is set near the finale of the Ace Lightning Roleplay and is connected to another in-progress fic by** Sarah Frost

**Ace Lightning and all related characters are the property of Rick Sigglekow and personal designers. **

* * *

Risk Taker.

He could break the chains, if he wanted. At least he thinks he could. They're metal.

But he hasn't. He hasn't actually even tried to. Which should be encouraging, but it's not.

He's been here for a while now. a while ago, Lady Illusion appeared acting very much not like herself. They sent a while together when he switched places with Ace to get into the game. He knows her moods and attitudes and the way she behaves in public. She sure as WHO didn't usually end up spurting nonsense about hungering storms and never-ending monsters devouring themselves from the inside out…

And he doesn't want to think about all that… The things she came out with. They were strange and disturbing and so little like her. Random's used to not relying on his own personality, but…

Still, no sense worrying about it now..

She was there for a long while resting nearby (too nearby, he'd thought at the time. Too close for comfort.) She must've been in a bad state if she actually trusted him over being out there. Enough to fall unconscious right next to him. In morph, no less. He could have ripped her apart easily in such a weakened state should the desire have taken him.

The weird thing was that six "days" passed, and she was still alive when they found she was there. They're still all right here, on the edge of Armageddon.

When people like her are losing it, Random doesn't exactly see what hope there is for the rest of them.

The world around them is falling apart, and he knows it. Fear may be able to keep the Haunted House going for a while, but everything is just delaying the inevitable. Looking at it that way, Random has to wonder why he allowed himself to be chained in the first place. After all, what did they have to lose now?

Maybe it was a gut reaction. He'd never be able to control himself alone, after all.

…He's pretty sure he wouldn't. It was force of habit to expect that somebody else would do it instead.

Well, anyway, they clearly thought couldn't take the risk, though both the mortals had seemed uneasy about it, neither of them had dared speak up. He was glad they hadn't. Random doesn't take those kinds of risks anymore. No, those risks are the jobs for other people. Like idiot mortals who decide to come round to your junkyard and challenge your evil side to a psyche out. Or send a few thousand gigawatts of amulet-infused energy through their body just to break up an unbreakable fight between two people who'd kill each other. Or…

Damn mortal. He's going to stop thinking about that now. It doesn't make much sense, really. How come the damn kid can do _that_ to his evil side, but every time Random's seen him in the last few days of Armageddon he's been hiding from some minion or other.

_'Maybe they think you're Ace, or something.' _

_'Oh very _funny_.' _

_'Heh. Seriously. It's the blond, you know. They're probably programmed to attack anything with that hair colour. Or maybe it's just that they like ganging up on mortal weaklings who can't even protect…' _

_'Uh… Random.' _

_'…Sorry. I've got it.' _

_'Yeah, I know you do. Do me a favour and keep "getting it", okay? So far you're the only thing round here that _isn't_ trying to kill me at the moment.' _

_'…I think you're overreacting slightly. Sparx hasn't tried.' _

_'Lucky me.' _

Lucky you indeed, kid. At least he wasn't the one chained up.

Random figured he'd never understand mortals. Or. For that matter, elves that could imitate them. Not even now, this close to the end of the world as they know (knew?) it.

He's closest to the storms out here, looking up at the darkness and green and purple that remains of there world. Somewhere out there is the junkyard, beyond that what used to be his hometown, but there's nothing left of it all now but rubble and data particles.

Inside the walls behind him he can hear a random minion muttering in a screaming cockroach scaring the life out of some passer by. That's all the life he's heard all day.

The Haunted House. Never his favourite location. It was odd that now that very place should be their salvation.

He wished there were some metal around. Something other than the chain that he could control and manipulate, but there wasn't. Fear knew better than to leave such an opportunity. Random supposed he should thank him for it.

The one time Lightning Knight thanking the overlord… how things around here had changed.

He doesn't shatter when he hits the ground. He never does, no matter how far he falls and he didn't even fall that far this time. He's unbreakable and invincible. He always acts that way about living, too. Watching him, Ace had always imagined that nothing could ever hold him back unless he allowed it.

And he _never_ allowed it.

There's never been any sense in telling him to be careful, so Ace doesn't. He just stands there and watches the metal fly.

He knows Sgt Helix has always hated watching them. 'Damn kid's going to wipe himself out,' he used to say, seeing them play in the local junkyards when they were children. Half of their home Zone had been old army cadets and retired majors who had seen all kinds of civic battles, though, so rarely – if ever – were they prevented from playing.

It's crazy, really, Ace knows. He's only twenty eight cycles old. The older boy is thirty eight and invincible- at least around the metal. They're academy first years and top of their leagues. What's to stop them now?

Not the metal, that's for sure.

Ace still catches his breath, though, sometimes, when he watches Random fall from a metal stack soaring half a mile into the air, grab a hold of it and pull himself back. The metal towers creak and groan beneath him, but it's not a threatening sound, the way it would have felt if it had been Ace in there. Random told him once that the creaking sounded as if the metal were laughing.

_'…What? You mean at you?'_

_'Not exactly, Ace. With me. You make it sound as if that's strange, or something.' He look sat Ace, smiling from where he's sitting amongst the metal containers he was tossing around the room without touching earlier. 'You wouldn't believe what it has to say about you.' _

_'…Yeah. Its official, my best friend is a certified bolt head. When do I call the reprogramming department and tell them to pick you up?' _

_'Ha! Ace Lightning… tells me, Ace, old friend, how's your shoulder from where you fell from a thirty foot Spine Wall's back? Was it really such a good idea to climb up it the second it got close?' _

_'…Well. Okay. You've got me there.' _

_'Heh. So I do. Now lay off the metal.' _

The level is Catastrophe junkyard, with its mile-high (at least it always looks that way) stacks of steel and monsters rearing out of pipes and chains and old ripped up machinery. The safety catches are completely off. If it were anyone else on any other level Ace wouldn't have liked that one bit. But this is Random, and Random _knows_ the junkyards, almost as well as he knows himself. The metal will do whatever Random asks it to.

The most interesting thing about it is that Random's never been that light. He's a good few demicrans heavier than Ace his, and yet the metal never gives, not even a little, when he jumps for a newly-formed ledge in order to avoid a falling Meta-Harpix claw.

'That's the third time he's done that today.' Ace mutters.

'U-huh. Done what, exactly?' Sparx asks. 'The falling-from-a-great-height or the forming-of-a-path-out-of-scrap-metal to _prevent_ the fall-from-a-great-height?'

'Both,' Ace mutters, though he's mostly answering the question to himself alone.

Sparx swallows. 'And… you told me that he can't actually _fly_, right? Not at all? Just like me?'

'Nope. Never even got his first Hover-level badge in the Cadets,' Ace smiles, because she's caught on to why he brought her here now. Because he wants to show her somebody _else_ who flew without ever really flying. Someone who can show her that that kind of "disability" (if they even classified it as such) really isn't the end of the world.

Random moves again, and the metal of the stack he's standing on moves with him. The static is so heavy in the air; Ace can almost taste it from behind the heavy plastic protection screen.

'Three times so far,' Ace mutters. 'He just closes his eyes, feels where the metal is and…'

'…Jumps? Just like that?'

'Yeah. Just like that.'

* * *

_They laughed at him for it, when he was a kid. Pole-Oriented telekinesis was so rare, even amongst their kind. It had no real, official name. _

_But that had never bothered him, really. He didn't care what other children thought about his gift, because he knew from others that it always stopped when they got older and learned to use their powers properly. A good reason why Random couldn't wait until he was twenty cycles… that was grown up, wasn't it? it certainly seemed that way at the time. _

_But still, he didn't really mind the children. They didn't have powers, after all. _

_What bothered him was when the Gift didn't work. Occasionally it didn't. Mood swings could affect the metal, and sometimes it didn't "listen" to the child no matter how much he wanted it too. _

_'Doesn't matter… it won't work, Ace. I can't do it anymore.' he stares too hard at the pile of metal filings. If looks alone could move the scraps of tin, this one would. Everything's quiet…' _

_'Maybe you're just having a bad day like Professor Helix said,' Ace comments. 'He said that it doesn't always work some days when you're just a kid, remember, Random? Remember?' _

_'I still think it's broken. It won't come back.' _

_He's not _sulking_, he's _thinking_, but Ace is giving him _that_ look he always gives him when he thinks he's in a mood. _

_'No, Random. It's not broken… see?' In the memory, Ace holds a sheet of metal close to Random's face. It flickers and trembles but that's about it. And you're not broken either. Tomorrow it'll all be normal again.' _

_'You promise?' _

_Ace grinned from behind the metal sheeting. 'Yeah, I promise.' _

_The next day, random was grounded for three days for levitating all the metal objects in the kitchen and smashing the window. But Ace had still kept him promise, so it didn't really matter. _

* * *

Sparx is grinning and showing her teeth –just the reaction Ace expected. 'He's my kinda guy. So when do I meet him?' 

'As soon as I can introduce you both, I guess. I think he's a little busy right now.'

'Busy? You kidding me? The guys in his element out there!'

'No, his element is the engineering department lab. This is just a place he likes an awful lot. You'll be in different course segments this year, by the way. And they've already banned you from the electronics lab, so don't go getting too attached.'

Sparx's eyes roll and frowns up at the inside of the training container. (which is currently set's set as high as it can go on this particular level type. So often random counts as average-ability in class, but not here. Not in _this_ level. Random always takes those kinds of chances in there. Sometimes, when he fights with Ace, they have to set their levels differently so Random doesn't have an unfair advantage.) 'Get real, Ace, I just wanna meet the guy. I figure he'd be a cool partner for a third evel spar..'

'Uh-_huh_. And _you'll_ be allowed to spar at the third level the day I write out an employment request to the Gustsome Graveyard Cemetery, Sparx. Or better yet, the Haunted—'

His voice cuts off when he sees Random falling. Her must have lost his footing when a Meta-Harpix leapt out of nowhere amongst the scrap and slashed a claw across his face. There's no chance for him to read the metal this time. He's already falling and Ace hears Sparx swearing under his breath.

'Oh… oh, damn it! Ace the safety—!'

For a second, Ace almost does what she says. Then he remembers and pulls his hand back from the switchboard on the wall. 'No, Sparx. Watch.'

In the corner of the containment chamber, a stack of machinery crackles, then it _bends_ and twists like something alive. The metal sheets become curved and warm and Random is caught. Just like that, out of mind air. A couple of seconds later he's back on his feet, standing as the metal scrap drifts heavily to the ground.

The metal listened, of course. Ace kind of wonders what Random said to it, but it doesn't really matter. His friend gives a thumps up at the place where he guesses the observation window is and climbs right back into the scrap piles.

Ace lets out a held breath.

'Yeah.' Sparx blinks through eyes too wide to possibly belong to her. 'Really my kinda guy.'

* * *

He mellows as he grows older and… things happen. Things i change /i and so does he, but deep inside he still knows he's invincible, thought logic and surface thoughts tell him otherwise. 

It's the accident that changes everything. The first one not so much as the second.

It happened in Catastrophe Junkyard. The real one.

Or rather, it didn't so much happen there. That was just the beginning of it. That was when he lost an arm.

They've been here three times and Random has already learned that real metal isn't necessarily as easy to control as the artificial, simulated stuff of the training containers. Just like the metal of his childhood playground – the junkyard has a will all of its own. Plus, not everything in there is actually made of metal. Not all of it listens to him.

Damn Meta-Harpix.

Damn Meta-Harpix that they need to track before it heads out to the Western City and rips apart the coastline village. It's a big job. A massive one and far too important for just cadets but they're the only ones available. And Random just happened to find it first.

He knew, of course, that it would head for the junkyard. Meta-Harpix like metal almost as much as Random does.

Meta-Harpix also have teeth like large razors and this one rips through his flesh without a problem. It rips and tears and then he can't feel anything expect for pain and the pounding of his internal monitor signalling a massive power breach. It takes him a few seconds to realise what's causing it and he only knows for certain when he staggers to his knees and reaches out his right hand to find his wrist cannon.

That's when he knows. His right hand isn't there anymore. The pain just tricked him into thinking that it was.

Knowing its gone makes it hurt all the more, but he doesn't scream. Not out loud anyway. Still he feels the junkyard trembling all around him and knows the metal is screaming for him, feeling everything he feels. Out loud, the only thing that screams is the Harpix, urged on by the sensation of leaking electricity and _Zoar_; it hurts so much its _killing_ him.

It's going to leave the Junkyard now. His pain blurred senses can still tell him that much. It's going to spread its massive, metal wings and take off. It's going to head for the village and dig out all the flesh and blood it can, destroying everything in its path. If he lets it go now because he was in too much pain to stop it…

No. Random won't let that happen.

Random knows there's only one real way to stop a Meta-Harpix. You screw with the inside of its head.

So Random pushed the pain aside and started to do that. Seeking out the weak, metallic connections in its cyborg brain, ripping them apart open small piece at a time. After all, the Meta-Harpix is half machine, and this ones a lot smaller than the giant version he faced in the Junkyard Simulation. Also, this one doesn't have the advantage of the anti-mind wipe protocols. They'd installed on the simulation to make things a little more difficult for him.

It's easy to get inside the Harpix's head now and a stupid part of Random's mind that has not yet been taken over by pain tells him he should have done it sooner.

Too late for wondering about that now. So Random ignores all the pain and fear and anger and raging hate and focuses madly on making it stop. Slowly, the Harpix is betrayed by its own brain. Its eyes begin to bleed bright, hot silver. Its wings open wide and thrash against the junkyard walls, sending metal cascading around them. None of it hits Random though; none of it would _hurt_ him.

So he just keeps focussing, right inside of its brain. He keeps on ripping for all he's worth.

By the time the rest of the cadet team get there, both the Harpix, and the man who tore its mind into thousands of irreparable pieces, are stone cold on the ground. Fortunately, for a cadet, called Ace Lighting only one of the two is actually dead.

* * *

'…Don't… don't let go.' 

'It's okay! It's okay, I won't, I promise!'

He always told them that he doesn't mind behind made of metal. But this time, might be an exception to that rule.

There are six elements in the Sixth Dimensional general Construction manuals. Spirit, Flesh, and Code aren't all that important here. What matters is heat, electricity….

'I… on second thoughts.'

'I already told you I'm _not_ letting go.'

'I'm… I'm the only one still in here, aren't I? And you're the only Knight.'

'Yeah, you are. And I'm going to get you out!'

..And metal. Most specifically, the metal of his arm, gripping the hand of the man, hanging over the edge of the inferno. The metal railings of the ladder had given away a while ago and fallen down into the molten heat before Random could take control of them and drag them back into place, but he managed to grab the mans arm just in time and now it's willpower alone keeping them where they are.

'Oh… oh, _Zoar_. Zoar, you… you should let me go, I think. I don't…'

'Shut up!'

'I… I don't want you to die.'

'Don't worry, I _won't_.'

Because this is metal, Random thinks. Everything in this room is metal: even the molten fires below him: the metal wouldn't hurt him, would it?

Random was only able to get this far because the previously un-melted metal helped him. The walkway between the safe side of the building and the internal engines had been broken to pieces, so Random had ordered the metal to reform, twist and shape a bridge for him. He used that bridge to cross the molten heat below and reach the man still trapped in its core.

It had honestly seemed like a good idea at the time.

Random swears and the metal shards and filings that have formed around him shudder and spasm at his fear.

'I… let go.' The man's voice is quiet. 'You shouldn't have to die not… now just because…'

'I thought I told you to shut up?'

'Because I was stupid… I… okay.'

_'Help me,' _Random asks again, and the walls and ceilings _do_ try to. Even though they're melting and burning away, they still rise up to help him. The problem is that now they do more harm than good. They're just too _hot_ for the mortal to take and he screams in agony whenever they get close. Even the metal walkway beneath them is starting to crumble away now.

'Almost didn't come today… was my… it's my friend's cloning-day, I was going to go and… and I didn't. I came to work. Shouldn't have, I figure…'

Random tightens his grip just a little. But now it's as tight as the artificial limb will allow him to grip and he can't risk extending his other arm and loosening his grip on the surface even more.

The man looks up. His eyes are blue, bright and so disturbingly mortal and human random feels his insides clench. 'W-what's your name?'

Random doesn't have time to answer.

Beneath them a huge explosion erupts from deep inside the metallic engine. The overheated tanks suck the molten metal in, and then they force it back out again. The world becomes a wall of searing, liquid heat and Random feels the metal points of his already false left arm expanding and screaming.

The man, however, is just pure flesh and bone, and Random can see him disintegrating, _screaming_, just before his own pain kicks in.

The metal has never betrayed him before.

He asked it not to let him go. So it didn't.

* * *

They're calling him the unluckiest Sixth Cycle cadet in the whole academy. Random thinks they might've been right, if he had been anybody else. As it happens, he doesn't mind the metal. 

He _minds_ not behind able to lie down anymore. And he minds now needing twice as high a concentration of power up every time he drains himself. He minds the annoying awkward process of trying to move through doorways and over bridges. He minds the fact that the mortal died in the process of Random trying to save him.

But he doesn't resent the treads they gave him instead of legs, or the metal plating half taking over his skull. He doesn't _mind_ being a machine. It brings him closer to his favourite element than he's ever been before.

Ace is the only one who doesn't believe he's just in denial when he tells them that.

But Ace is also the one who, in the end came to tell him the truth, about the bits of Random's brain that they just _couldn't_ fix.

'The Technicians are saying that there's something not… quiet right.'

'Not quiet… right?' for an engineer in training, those words have the same impact as "The Contract of Illusion" do for a Diplomatic History Student. Namely, they send a chill right to his coding. He knows what Ace says is true, because he's been feeling it for a while now.

'The physical adaptations have gone find, Random it's… they're not completely sure…' Ace puts down the metal object he'd been messing with and looks Random straight in the eye. '…What the bits they took out… might've done to your mind.'

Random leans back against the wall, and kind of wishes he could sit down. 'My mind? What exactly do they mean by that, Ace?' Ace has always been truthful with him. He knows the reason he's hesitating is because he doesn't want to lie. '_Tell me,_ Ace.'

'Remember… remember what happened to that Meta-Harpix back in the Junkyard after your first accident?' Ace speak sallow and carefully. 'After it's coding links were severed, after it stopped… knowing what it was supposed to do to us.'

Random felt a cold sensation spreading through his stomach, and it had nothing whatsoever to do with all the metal plating.

* * *

They're in the Garden of Illusion. The gnomes are all gone now (the weaklings had blown apart so _easily_) and now… 

Now she needs to die.

He's sure of that. No, He's not sure, she doesn't need to live but she really doesn't need to die either, does she? It's hard to tell. But he really wants to kill her now. He does. He _does_. She's nothing but a weakling, just like she was on the day this happened. But… the day _what_ happened? When what happened? Nothing is the matter with him, he's fine. _No I'm not. Yes I AM_. She needs destroying, _she's_ the one who isn't fine, and he has to get rid of her now while we have the chance. He'll always have the chance though because he'll always be more powerful. He'll always be stronger. And now she's defenceless well more defenceless than she usually is because weaklings are always defenceless at the root of it so why not get rid of her right—

**And then she hits him.**

**With a grapple. **

**He's pretty sure it hurts more than she expected it to. ****H**e is mostly made of metal now, after all. It's only when he's gripping his head on the metal side and growling as he processes this that he realises she's not his enemy anymore.

She…

She never was his enemy, was she?

Oh, Zoar.

'…Sparx?'

She's on her knees already, looking at him –she seems shocked and scared but… she's not really _angry_, and that's unusual, because for Sparx, anger usually comes a long time before the fear does. In this case it doesn't.

She drops the grapple. 'R… Random. You okay now? I… I see green.'

He doesn't answer. He can't speak. She's staggering to her feet and… she's probably lucky that she already can't fly, because he's pretty sure that's her _Aerial Coding_ he sees, visible through the tear in her uniform and flesh. It's bleeding like mad and she's shaking, but she's standing up. Sword held out in front of her and eyes fixed on him like a frightened animal's.

'S…see that… that metre they gave you… s'kinda a good thing. Now I can tell when you're gonna turn bad, you know… r-red for stop and green for go.' She laugh laughs that line, but the laugh is meaningless and unenthusiastic. 'You… you alright now, lugnut?'

He wants to tell her yes, he's fine and ask if she's alright herself. He wants to agree with her about the counter. He wants to apologise to her for what he's done and tell her to get to a medical post right now. He wants to promise he'll hold off the freaks until she can get there.

But he can't, because all of it would be another lie.

So instead he turns and wheels away, and leaves her there, yelling after him.

She'll get out on her own alright. She's a fighter after all.

* * *

There's no doubt about it. The boy is a lunatic. 

Random knows insanity when he sees it, and nothing else could possibly explain what the human is _doing_ here. Why else would he have come to this world's junkyard? Tracked him down amongst the wreckage of cars and machines and actually –for Zoar's sakes!– actually _sat down in front of him_, on top of an old car's bonnet.

Seeing him force a smile just clenches the inkling Random's already rather convinced mind –the boy is completely, utterly _insane_. 'So… do you know where I left it?'

…and if that's an attempt at casual conversation, Random may just have to kill the boy now, whether his evil side is in control or not. '…what?'

'My… my wrist cannon. I left it, remember?'

'Damn it, mark, I told you not…'

'Not to come here, but that's… it's the only weapon I have, I thought…' the kid pauses. Random sees him biting his lower lip. He's scared alright. At least he's still sane enough for that. '…I thought maybe I could get it back.'

He wants to tell the kid to leave. And quite possibly swear at him a little for good measure, but he doesn't, and he doesn't quite know why. 'what the hell are you doing here?'

'Like I said. Wrist cannon. It was brok—'

'Like hell it's the wrist cannon, Mark!'

The boy doesn't answer that. Maybe he doesn't actually know the answer anymore than random does. He stays sitting perfectly still and fixing Random in a nervous stare he almost finds _familiar_. As if he's seen it somewhere before.

What should he care? The boy needs to get _out_ of here before the evil kills him.

'You're not the one that's broken here, mortal. So get out before you are!'

The kid shifts quickly down from the car bonnet. The problem is that he doesn't run away.

He just takes another step _towards_ Random.

'It… It's alright, Random. You're not broken, not really.' The kid pauses, glancing at Random's claw which still happens to rest within the metal surface he smashed it into (Random hasn't actually looked yet to see what that metal surface was.) It feels… bad. Like he's betrayed the one element he's ever been able to trust. Mark wouldn't know about all that though. At least there's no reason for Random to think he would… 'That car's not looking too great, but… you're alright. Besides I… I still _really_ do need the wrist cannon.'

And now he's telling jokes.

Great _Zoar_. What is he going to _do_ with this kid?

Well, with any luck, maybe _not_ kill him. He doesn't want to –at the moment.

'…You won't kill me, Random.' It's a strange thing to say out loud, but the boy sounds like he actually believes it.

_You can't promise that. _

'Whatever,' Random mutters, and then he adds as he turns away. 'If it matters that much I'll fix it for you, just for goodness…' (evils) '…sakes don't show up here again. I'll get someone to bring it to you, someone…' _Who can fight me off._

Mark moves. This time in the direction Random wanted him to – away, rather than towards. '…Okay. Sure. I…'

'Just _get out_, Mark.'

The metal around him seems to rattle, whispering words it hardly says anymore.

Still, that's pretty much the end of that conversation and when he looks up again Mark is gone.

* * *

He could break the chains, if he wanted. At least he thinks he could. They're metal. 

But he hasn't. He hasn't even tried to. Lady Illusion even offered to remove them – he said no. Which should be an encouraging thought. It's not.

The world around him is falling apart, and he knows it. He wonders, then, why he allowed himself to be chained in the first place. Maybe it was a gut reaction. He'd never be able to control himself alone, after all.

He's pretty sure he wouldn't.

We'll anyway, it would have been a risk. And Random Virus doesn't take risks anymore.

* * *

**Reviews and concrit are appreciated.**


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